, 1887-02-16
THE NAuTcH GIRLS DANCE.

A Performance Artistic aud Decorous.
BicycIist Stevens Description.
l had been wondering whether an op-
portunity to see the famous dance would
occur during my tour through India, and
so, when four or five Of the p~rettiest of
these dusky damsels gathered around me,
smiled at me ~winsomely, ogled me with
with their bewitching black eyes, smiled
again. smiled separately, smiled unani-
mously, smiled all over their semi ma
hogany but nevertheless not unhandsome
faces. and every time displaying sets of
pearly teeth, what could l do? What
could n have done but smile in return?
There is no language more eloquent or
more easily understood. under certain cir
cumstances, than the language OF facial
expression. No verbal question or answer
vas necessary. interpreted the winsom,
smiles of the Nautch dancers right and
they interpreted very quickly the per-
mission to go ahead that revealed itself in
the smile they had forced from me.
Eight of the twelve were commonplace
girls of from IA to IL and the other four
were quite handsome, AZ handsome goes
among the Hindoos. Their arms were
bare of anything ave bracelets md the
upper portion of the body was but s~cantily
clothed, after h and custom Of
all Hindoo females; but an ample skirt Of
calico reached to the ankles. Rings were
on every toe and massive silver anklets,
with tiny bells attached, made music
when they walked OF danced. They
wore a p~rofusion Of bracelets, necklaces
Of rubies. read ornaments, ear rings and
pendants and a massive gold or brass
ring in the left nostril. The nostril was
relieved of its burden by o string that de-
scended from a head ornament and took
up the weight.
The Nautch girls arranged themselves
into u half circle, their scarlet costumes
forming a bright crescent, terminating at
either end in a mass of spectators, whose
half naked bodies, varying in color from
pale olive to mahogany, were arrayed in
costumes scarcely less snowy than the
dancers. The chaperone tom-toms an
appropriate Nautch accompaniment on a
drum with his fingers, and four pretty
girls advance from the half circle, and,
favoring me with n quartette of killing
smiles and a quartette of coquettish
glances from their bright dark eyes, they
commence to dance. An idea seems to
prevail in occidental minds that the In
dian Nautch dance id a very naughty
thing, but nothing is further from the
truth. OF course ii can be made naugh-
ty, and no doubt often is. but her SO
can many another form OF innocent
amusement. The proper Nautch dance
il a decorous and artistic performance
when properly danced; the graceful mo.
tons and elegant proportions of the hui
man form, as revealed by 1.-the and grace
full dancers, are to he reviewed with an
eye MS purely artistic and critical as a
Venus or Other production of the sculp-
tor O atudio. Only the British matrouH
would consider q Nautch lance in anv
degree INDIGENOUS
The -four dancers take the hem of their
red garment between the thumb and
finger Of the right hand, spreading its
ample folds into the figure of an open
ian by bringing theo utstretched arm al
most on a level with the shoulder. A
mantle of transparent muslin, fringed
with silver s%pangles, is worn about the
head and shoulders in the same indescrib-
ably graceful manner us the mantilla of
the Spanish ~senorita. Raising "A portion
of this aloft in the left hand and keeping
the fan" intact with the right the dane
crs twirl around and change positions
with each other. their supple figures
meanwhile assuming n variety of grace
full motions and pastures from time to
time. Now they initiate the spiral move
ncnts of the serpent, climbing around
and upward on an imaginary pole; again
they assume a charming posture, their
dusky countennnces half hidden in seem
ing coquctry behind the muslin mantle,
the large red far waved gently to and
fro, the feet unmoving, but the undulat-
ing motions of the body and the trem-
bling of the limbs sufiicing to jingle the
tiny ankle bells.